Last Tuesday was the first Tuesday of the month and it was once again time for another Bloemfontein Camera Club meeting. Without wasting some space and time with stories, lets look at the outcome of the five images I submitted for judging.

A. Nature category

Just a reminder – no manipulation using computer software is allowed in this category – so what you see was what I’ve captured (and I do not like the manipulation part of Photoshop or photography for that matter).

This image was taken in during our last trip to the Mokala National Park during the first week of January 2016 (before the rain). We stayed for the fist time in the Tree house and what a treat! It was very dry in the park and there is a waterhole just in front of the tree house. During the late afternoon it provided some backlight and side light opportunities like this image of a duiker.

Just made it into the Gold award category. This image was taken during one of my two trips to the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park in 2015 – taken on the last morning during a drive to Gunong waterhole before I headed back to Bloemfontein. When the image appeared on the screen, I did realise that it was cropped to close to the upper side. Nevertheless, ….

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B. Pictorial category

There are just the two categories in the camera club that the photographers can submit images for judging. In this category, anything type of images can be submitted except Nature and wildlife images. So, this month I’ve decided to submit a landscape image containing human elements for judging.

Image taken during our drive down to Mossel Bay for the New year’s weekend in 2015. Form the Southern Free State we saw the clouds building up and when we arrived at Middleburg, the clouds were almost perfect for this shot. No time for a tripod (was packed away in the car) – handheld shot. I played around with the image changing it into a monochrome image with a difference. Lets see how it does in the salons.

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C. Set subject – “Paris is burning (fire)” – an image with fire as a subject

Just to support the club, I decide to enter to two images in this category.

1.

Firemen 1 – scored 11/15

This image was taken in during a fire exercise by our local fire fighting department.

I though the image was appropriate for the topic but apparently not all three judges did think so. Well, they are entitled to their opinions.

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2.

Old wagen – scored 09/15

This image was taken in in the local fire department’s museum – I can live with the score of the judges. Just thought to submit something different this time around.

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Message to take home

Just a short message for this post:

You, as the photographer, are the one that decide what should be captured in the frame and what should be excluded not. However, one must remember that the photographer cannot always control every single item in the frame and therefore what is capture for an the image. BUT the photographer has control over his/her position in relation to the subject being photographed. Therefore, it is possible to position yourself in order to put the subject in the best possible composition and “remove” some of the unwanted clutter before pulling the trigger (“press the shutter”). Do not just stay stationary during a shoot – keep moving around to find the best possible angle for the shot.